LITTLE WONDERS. 525 



rence in the wake of the slave-dealer. 'Two fathoms/ men- 

 tioned as the price of the boy's life — the more valuable of the 

 two — means four yards of unbleached calico, which is a universal 

 article of barter throughout the greater part of Africa: the 

 mother was bought for two yards. The reader must not think 

 that there are no lower prices ; in the famines which succeed the 

 slave-dealer's raids, boys and girls are at times to be purchased 

 by the dealer for a few handfuls of maize." 



The large animals, which have become familiar objects to the 

 reader who has followed us along the track of this wonderful 

 traveller, abounded in the region. But among the more insig- 

 nificant creatures some curiosities are mentioned. Indeed it is 

 one of the pleasant things of our experience, in examining care- 

 fully the vast amount of material which has at one time and 

 another been given to the world by Dr. Livingstone, that we 

 are led into the obscurities of unconspicuous nature, the little 

 things, which we might pass over had we a guide less thought- 

 ful and intelligent. It is in the tiny existences of earth that the 

 finest touches of Divine wisdom are displayed. Out of inex- 

 haustible resources the Infinite Creator, who sets our sky with 

 worlds like jewels, affords to fill also the hidden places with 

 works of marvellous beauty and interest. Livingstone honored 

 God by an unwearying curiosity : the birds and flowers, the 

 earth and rocks, all had attraction for him. But the special 

 objects mentioned here may hardly seem to justify enthusi- 

 asm ; however, commonplace as they may seem, his notes serve 

 to illustrate one important and honorable feature of the charac- 

 ter of this great man — the carefulness of his observations. 



"A large spider makes a nest inside the huts. It consists of 

 a piece of pure white paper, an inch and a half broad, stuck flat 

 on the wall ; under this some forty or fifty eggs are placed, and 

 then a quarter of an inch of thinner paper is put round it, 

 apparently to fasten the first firmly. When making the paper 

 the spider moves itself over the surface in wavy lines ; she then 

 sits on it with her eight legs spread over all for three weeks 

 continuously, catching and eating any insects, as cockroaches, 

 that come near her nest. After three weeks she leaves it to 

 hunt for food, but always returns at night : the natives do not 

 molest it. 



27 



